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6 JANUARY 2009	HOME | INDEX

Focused Flavor Creation using
Qualitative and Quantitative Sensory Data (QSD)

Flavor Creation involves two requirements
        Ingredient Selection
        Ingredient Use Level

There are a number of Criteria used to select Ingredients and Use Levels for Flavor Creation

• By Existing Formulas
• By Experience
• By Literature
• By Supplier or Peer suggestions
• By Odor
• By Tasting

By Experience:
Using this approach saves time and reduces trial and error. It also provides confidence and a good comfort level. As with using existing formulas, this approach may suppresses creativity, and the use of new and different ingredients.

By using the Literature:
Using the literature provides a good source of ideas and keep up with current technology. Unfortunately many flavorists do not have access to this information. The literature can also be somewhat overwhelming. One cannot possibly manage 200-300 ingredients identified in a product for flavor creation. Many of the ingredients identified in natural products are not approved for flavor use, and it is very time consuming to determine which ingredients are approved.

By Suppliers and Peers:
Suppliers introduce newly approved flavor ingredients, and natural ingredients. This is very helpful as samples are available for evaluation, and some sensory information is usually provided. Peers can also be very helpful to provide information on selection and use of flavor ingredients.

By Odor:
Odor evaluation of ingredients is quick and appears to provide useful sensory information, but has many shortcomings. The flavor of an ingredient is usually similar to it's odor, but the apparent intensity can be very misleading. Based on odor, pyrazines may appear to be very strong but many are relatively weak. On the contrary, some sulfur compounds have strong odors and have even stronger flavor use levels.  Odor evaluations cannot provide flavor, use level or intensity profiles, but can be a useful screening tool.

By Taste Evaluation:
Tasting flavor ingredients provides an accurate approach for selecting ingredients and use levels for flavor creation. It provides descriptive and quantitative intensity properties of an ingredient at various use levels, and provides an insight into the use of the ingredient. Tasting and documentation sensory properties provides confidence in using the ingredient, reduces trial and error, saves time and produces faster and usually better results.
 

Developing Quantitative Sensory Data (QSD)
Quantitative Sensory  Data involves determining the flavor intensity of the ingredient at various (ppm) use levels. An arbitrary scale of 1-10 is used for this purpose.

The ingredient under evaluation is tasted from threshold to high intensity. Initially the ingredient is tasted at  ppm levels of  .01  -  0.05  -  0.1  -  0.25  -  0.5  -  1.0  -  2.5  -  5.0  -  10.0. The range is extended if necessary.

Relative (subjective) intensities of foods may serve as examples for determining flavor ingredient intensities.
Milk  3 - 4        butter 4 - 5        eggs, scrambled  4        white bread 3
apples 7        banana 4         boiled chicken 4-5

Most foods without seasoning or processing are relatively mild. Flavor ingredients obviously are much stronger and need to be used at the correct use level to obtain the desired effect.

Over 200 flavor ingredients have been tasted, and qualitative and quantitative intensity data have been documented  From this data it is assumed that all flavor ingredients fall into 4 intensity profiles.
 

Intensity Profile #2
Ethyl Butyl Ketone covers the usable intensity range over a wide use range of 1 to 10 ppm. Other ingredients like acetaldehyde,  5-methyl-2-thiophene carboxaldehyde, furfuryl pentanoate and many others fall into this profile category. Fortunately most  ingredients fall into this category, as it is the most forgiving. Ingredients from this category would not appear to affect a flavor profile it that flavor 's use level were changed. There can be an affect from the ingredient flavor profile changing at different use levels.
 
 
 
 
 

Intensity Profile #3
2-Methoxy-4-propyl phenol demonstrates an intensity profile where the intensity peaks below a maximum intensity level. Examples of ingredients in this profile include vanillin, maltol, and raspberry ketone, plus others. These profiles are very forgiving as the intensity of an ingredient in this profile would not change in a flavor, if the flavor use level changed.
 
 
 
 
 
 

We have all experienced reduced flavor intensity of a flavor, when the use level of the flavor was increased. This profile could contribute to this observation.
 
 
 
 

Reproducibility of Intensity ratings and Flavor descriptions
Describing sensory properties of flavor ingredients is a very important part of flavor creation, and is a difficult subjective task. There are many factors which affect the reproducibility of describing flavor ingredients. Some of these factors are evaluator's experience, background, taste acuity, physical health, and ability to concentrate. Some ingredients are easier to describe if they are characteristic of known foods, and these ingredients become fairly reproducible. Other factors include a lack of a standard descriptor list, ingredient age and stability, environmental factors like constant temperature of ingredient taste solutions, physical aspects of taste areas, and more. In general the reproducibility of ingredient descriptions is not very good based upon the factors mentioned. However, it could be improved substantially by addressing the factors mentioned.

The reproducibility of intensity ratings is much better than flavor descriptions of ingredients, due to the nature of the measurement and the unit of measure. In a recent exercise involving 15 people, the reproducibility of intensity ratings were good. The author has demonstrated to be within 10% of repeated intensity ratings using a blind test method to repeat the  measurement.

Using Quantitative Intensity Ratings and Qualitative Sensory Data to Create Flavors..
The following table demonstrates typical sensory and intensity data for 2,4-Decadienal. The intensity data helps in choosing  a use level which will produce the desired sensory result in the selected flavor. The next step is to assign 2,4-Decadienal to flavors in which it may be useful.
 

FKS has developed a new software program called Flavor Creator that utilizes this concept . Skeleton formulas are generated from assigned sensory data and provides a starting point for flavor creation.  For more information about Flavor Creator click on it.

Return to Flavor Creator

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